SARASOTA, Fla. (May 1, 2013) – Sarasota Memorial Health Care System received the highest level of distinction by Florida Blue, Florida’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield company, as a high performing hospital for quality and efficiency in spine surgery and total hip/knee joint replacements.

The Blue Distinction Centers for Specialty Care® program is a national designation awarded by Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies to medical facilities that have demonstrated expertise in delivering quality specialty care – and has recently been expanded to include more robust quality measures focused on improved patient health and safety as well as new cost-efficiency measures.

Since 2006, consumers, medical providers and employers have relied on the Blue Distinction program to identify hospitals delivering quality care in bariatric surgery, cardiac care, complex and rare cancers, knee and hip replacements, spine surgery and transplants. The selection criteria used to evaluate facilities were developed with input from the medical community and include general quality and safety metrics as well as program specific metrics.

“We are very proud to have met the rigorous selection criteria that have been set by the Blue Distinction Centers for Specialty Care program,” said Sarasota Memorial Chief Medical Officer Steve Taylor. “This designation is a testament to the compassion and commitment our nursing and surgical teams display each day.”

Blue Distinction Centers have met rigorous program standards and demonstrated better quality and improved outcomes for patients, with low rates of complications and readmissions. The program provides consumers with tools to make better informed healthcare decisions, and these results will enable employers, working with Florida Blue, to tailor benefits to meet their individual quality and cost objectives.

About Sarasota Memorial Health Care System
Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is a regional referral center offering Southwest Florida’s greatest breadth and depth of inpatient, outpatient and extended care services, with more than 800,000 patient visits a year. Sarasota Memorial’s 806-bed acute care hospital has been recognized repeatedly as one of the nation’s largest, safest and best, with superior patient outcomes and a complete continuum of outpatient services– from urgent care clinics and physician groups, laboratory and diagnostic imaging centers, to home health and skilled nursing & rehabilitation. Sarasota Memorial is the only hospital in the Suncoast region (Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte and DeSoto counties) ever to rank in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals” and HealthGrades “America’s 50 Best Hospitals” lists.